By Mads Villadsen, SDKSkyt, Ballerup
This day, which was to turn out to be absolutely fantastic, started something like this.
First, the scene was set by Kimu sensei asking "Have you practiced?". Then he said "I know you don't have that".
So it was a bit provocative. Of course I had practiced at home. It could perhaps have been a little more focused and a little longer.
But then he also said that the only thing we could do is our best, and if it's not good enough, then you have to say never mind, move on, learn from it, but always do your best. He also asked us that during the day we should think about what version of ourselves we want to be? The best or worst version.
As he also said ''any idiot can learn from his own mistakes, but a true leader learns from the mistakes of others.''
It is also important that we always have "security, security and security". So therefore there is still something called DQ and there is also something called repatriation and that means withdrawal from the course and on that point there is no dear mother.
We worked hard shooting 50 rounds with caliber 22. We had to get started and warm up. And get your fists aligned. We all had a shooting instructor by our side to make sure everything went right. But also to give us feedback on our shooting. And everyone has their things to focus on, and I have mine. Many of them are connected to who you are as a person and therefore some of them are very person-oriented, but some of them are more common and apply to a larger part of the participants.
But I still want to share the things I was told to focus on. Because then there is a slightly greater chance that others will not also make these mistakes. Then others can also learn from my mistakes. Because what is knowledge worth if it is not applied.
- The breath must match the movement
- Sighted means must be up to the eye and you must follow the sighted means all the way out
- Take it easy, don't be too tense
It's as if the feedback you get is the help you didn't know you needed. These are small crucial things that you don't even notice, but which make a huge difference anyway. And when something is pointed out, it is never in a negative way. I always get such a "god yes" feeling which is only a good feeling. Because there is always something more to learn. And it always feels good when someone takes you by the hand and helps you on your way.
Then we went even harder and went straight to 9 millimeters for a very specific reason. We had to get used to the recoil in a 9 millimeter. Because as Kimu sensei said, the recoil of caliber 22 would be "baby food" like a pea pod afterwards.
We were first shown the firing of an entire 24-round magazine by Kimu Sensei, which he shot at approx. 8 sec. all in Alpha black.
Of course, there should be security security, security, all the time. After all, we are dealing with weapons. And also now and here, trust in the process is super important. It's not just for fun.
Therefore, we took all 50 shots in the pocket, the whole package, and went from 25 meters to 12 meters, and fired 36 shots. Two whole magazines, which of course we also had to upload ourselves. And I just have to say that once you have tried to hold, load and shoot with a 9 millimeter, a caliber 22 is nothing. Especially loading the magazine, it might be a bit difficult with a caliber 22, but it's not really hard to do at all. Then we went to 7 meters and fired the remaining 14 shots. Now we just had to shoot 2 shots at a time.
Here, too, I got some feedback that I could get a lot out of. Kimu sensei told me, "slow down the pace a bit when you shoot 2 shots at a time".
It wasn't a great shot, but it was okay. Although the process felt reasonably good, I was probably a little overconfident. It had been going so well during the day that I kind of forgot the first thing I was told, to take it easy.
The big challenge is still making a consistent cluster with my shoots.
After point shooting 1 and the points had to be counted together, David patted me on the shoulder and said: "Well done, that looked good" and pointed to the target. And it was the first time I genuinely didn't care what the result was in terms of points. The process had felt absolutely fantastic, it sounds high-brow and silly, but it just worked as it should.
It's really something I want all people to try. To have had difficulty with something, practiced and saw that it just works out and that it just feels right.
It was at 17.50 that I had the last shot and I could feel that now I was blown in the head.
A long day with lots of focus and lots of great experiences with a great team.
What I am very proud and happy about was that for the first time I learned from my own mistakes. What I have had big problems with is that when things don't go the way I want or expect, I talk myself down and go down a negative spiral, and I don't get out of it.
Kimu Sensei said as a follow-up to the training from the day before when we had SB-BB training that he could feel me, he could feel the real Mads. And that I should just continue with that and that it was really good. It made me really happy. It is always nice to be recognized by others.
This means that the process works and it is absolutely essential for progressive learning.
Even cleaning the guns was actually something I enjoyed doing with the others. Now we had done it so many times before that we were all now reasonably independent in cleaning. We could now even help each other with it.
A long day with lots of focus and lots of great experiences with a great team are the best words to sum up the day. And fortunately with a lot of successful experiences.
